Follow My New Blog

I just started a new blog.  This blog had a specific purpose, which was to document my training and fund raising as I prepared to run my first marathon.  However, I am not always "training for a cause", so to speak.  So, I decided to start another blog that was focused on my interests in running more broadly.  While I still plan on fund raising for a cause next year, I will blog about it under a separate string on my new blog, which I've entitled "Forever Run: for athletes who love to run".

My new blog is for real people who enjoy being active and love to run.  If that's you, then please start following me on my new blog!

I did it!

Just a short post to say I did it!  I finished the Baystate Marathon today.  3:47:58.  I placed 508th out of 1144 runners, and 120th in my age group!  I was hoping to run faster, but as the saying goes, even the best laid plans go awry sometimes.  Let's just say, I should have fueled better.  Oh well, there's always next time!

Anyway, right now I'm too exhausted to write more!  I'm just proud to have raised more than $1,300 for the North Shore Medical Center's Cancer Center, and to have finished the marathon in a decent time, considering the circumstances.

WOOHOO!

One week until the Baystate Marathon, and I feel great!

I feel as great as I can feel right now, considering I had the flu earlier this week.  However, despite the lingering ills, it's amazing how my body feels right now.  I have never felt so in shape.  I'm not in the same shape as the incredible athletes seen this summer in London, but I have come a long way from the 230 pound guy I was back in June 2010.  I used to say that I was in the best shape of my life when I was a senior in high school and that I've gone down hill ever since.  I take that back Now!  I think I am in the best shape of my life!

It sounds crazy that at 38 I am finally hitting my stride (pun intended), but its true.  I am now 190 pounds!  40 pounds less than I was in June 2010.  Amazing, huh!  I'm stronger than I was at the beginning of this summer, and I am faster. 

I'm not the only person who has lost weight, and gotten healthy.  In fact, I've lost weight before, only to gain it back.  The difference this time is that I have found a lifestyle that I love even more than the lifestyle I previously lead.  You couldn't even drag me down that old road again!  I am never going back to that sedentary lifestyle, with fast food, sugary baked goods, and tons of meat.  All that is gone from my life (except for the cider donuts we enjoy every fall up here in New England!)

Anyway.  Marathon Sunday is in one week, and I am so looking forward to it.  Someone today said to me "Are you really going to run a Marathon?  26 miles?  That sounds awful!"  Not to me.  It sounds like only the tip of the ice burg!  Could an ultra-marathon loom on the horizon?  Who knows!  But first, let me see how the Marathon goes.  Then, maybe, I'll consider other options.

Safe running my friends!

So you think failure is bad?

When I was a kid there is this poster that hung in my 7th grade class room.  It said "I never make the same mistake twice...I just make many new ones."  I embrace failure.  I'm not afraid to fail a few times to find success.  Sometimes you need to fail to succeed!  Check out his video.  I think it speaks for itself!

A Runner's Rhythm

"The rhythm of life is when you experience your own body, mind and soul."

-- Quote from Yogi tea bag

I read this quote on my tea bag earlier today.  I got me thinking about running. 

I love just heading out for a run.  Just run and have fun.  I doesn't matter to me if plan in place, such as a specific distance, pace, or time, or if I am just heading out without any plan at all.  I just like running.  It's fun.  I know for many non-runners this sounds crazy, but to me it is fun.  As the good Theodor Geisel once wrote, "These things are fun and fun is good".

For runners, like myself, we feel more connected with our body's when we run.  When you know your body, you know how fast you can run, or how far you can go, and you don't need a chart, GPS watch, or heart rate monitor to tell you this.  If you feel that rhythm, and you can ease into it, you will run just right.  I've heard it called the Goldilocks zone.

That's the way running should be.  When you are fully connected to your body, and you understand your body's rhythm, you can develop a stronger connection to your mind.

On my last run I found a wonderful rhythm and during that run I was able to focus my mind so well on what I was doing and where I was going.  It was great.  I was in that zone, in the moment, and nothing could have distracted me from that.  I ran well, and I felt great.  My mind was clear, and my body was relaxed. 

After I read the quote I realized that while running in this state I was becoming more connected to my soul.  Who am I as a person can be found while running.  Wow, that's cool.  You should try it.

Powerful Memories

Putting my daughter to bed tonight I sang the song Long December by Counting Crows.  I very nice song, but a sad one.  However, it has special meaning to me.  The song came out not long after my father passed away.  One of the lyrics goes "Long December, and there's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last."  I remember listening to this song for the first time.  It just happened to be December.  I sat there thinking to myself that maybe this year will be better than the last.  Lord knows I couldn't have gotten worse!

The loss of a parent is so powerful.  I love my father so much.  Every day he is not with me is a sad day.  Don't get me wrong, I don't go though life sad and depressed all the time.  There is just this ever present sadness that simply exists because he is no longer part of my every day life.

Sometimes I feel sad because my father never met his grandchildren.  Sometimes, I feel sad because I just want to feel his embrace one more time.  Just one more reassuring hug so that I will feel like a kid again, a time in my life when a simple hug made everything OK.  Sometimes I just want to hear his voice one more time; hear him laugh; hear him tell those same jokes he told over and over again.  Sometimes I just want my dad. 

Little things set me off, like that song did tonight.  However, as I write this, despite my twinge of sadness, I still have a smile on my face.  I guess that's a good sign.  I guess that's what keeps us going on when we lose a loved one.  It's what gives us the strength to live our lives to the fullest, so that their lives, lost too soon, won't be lost in vain.  Love you dad!

Rest in Peace Avalanna Routh

Just a quick post today.  I heard a story in the news back in February about a cute six year old girl from named, Avalanna Routh, who was suffering from a rare form of brain cancer.  Avalanna was in love with Justine Bieber and so wanted to meet him.  Now, I am too old to be a Justin Bieber fan, and I don't listen to his style of pop music, but young Mr. Bieber showed the world that he was brought up well and has a heart of gold when he visited his biggest fan, Avalanna, on Valentines Day earlier this year.  Way to go Justin!  Good job bringing joy to the heart of a six year old girl.

Sadly, it was just announced on the news this morning that Avalanna died yesterday morning.  It was heart breaking to hear of her death.  The story of Justin Bieber's bond with Avalanna is heart warming and it highlights how love and compassion are what make the human experience so incredible.  Justin Bieber did not just visit Avalanna once and then move on.  He maintained contact with her and her family, and made this young girl's last few months on this Earth so special.  Avalanna may have died too soon, but while she was here on Earth she touched many hearts, and she experienced love on a level that most people who live a lifetime will never experience.

I don't know Avalanna, but I will keep her spirit, love, and strength in my heart when I run.  Rest in Peace.